Expressing his aspirations, ANTHRAX/PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante has revealed his desire to perform the iconic track “Ride The Lightning” alongside the legendary band METALLICA
At 60 years of age, the accomplished drummer of ANTHRAX, who has been an integral part of the reimagined PANTERA lineup sharing stages with METALLICA in North American stadiums, recently utilized his social media platform on Friday, August 18. In his post, he shared several snapshots of himself seated behind the drum kit of METALLICA‘s drummer Lars Ulrich during the “M72” tour. Accompanying the images was a heartfelt message: “I love the finish on @larsulrich kit, @officialtamadrums killed it! I wanna Play #ridethelightning with them, love that song!!”
Making reference to the fact that he was writing his message prior to taking the stage at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where PANTERA was formed more than 40 years ago by late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, Benante added: “Tonight we are playing @dallascowboys turf . I can’t help but feel the vibe of @dimebagdarrell and @vinniepaulabbott , it’s going to be an emotional one. @panteraofficial @metallica #cowboysfromhell #cfh”
In March 2020, Charlie commendably lauded Ulrich‘s musical talents, expressing his admiration for the distinct manner in which the drummer of METALLICA approaches the creative process within a song.
Charlie‘s positive remarks were articulated within the context of a feature in Revolver magazine that spotlighted his personal top five drummers.
On top of mentioning such drummers as Neil Peart (RUSH), Alex Van Halen (VAN HALEN), Jerry Gaskill (KING’S X) and Ringo Starr (THE BEATLES), Benante said: “Some of these ‘Big Four’ drummers have a place here, too, ’cause we all were coming up together in this whole movement, this whole thrash movement — me, Lars and Dave [Lombardo, SLAYER]. And I think the three drummers always had something that was different from the other. I love the way Lars would think in a song and I love the way Dave‘s aggression in the song propelled the song. So I’d have to say those two.”
Back in May, it was revealed that ANTHRAX‘s Scott Ian, Benante and Frank Bello had been in the studio with producer Jay Ruston, laying down basic tracks in preparation for Joey Belladonna to record his vocals for the band’s next studio album.
At the time, Scott posted to wrote on social media: “We started recording the new album last week and the first session was a blast! The songs are killer, challenging and a lot of fun to play – Riff-O-Rama. Tones are 1986 great. Can’t wait for all of you to hear what we’re doing.”